Faces of Pacific: New director strives to change dining

posted in: News | 0

Pacific’s new Food Service Director Sam Currie comes to Forest Grove with considerable experience. Currie has been in the college food services industry for nearly 30 years working at Colorado State University, Montana State University, Lewis & Clark College, University of Portland, College of Idaho and Marylhurst University.

“I came to Pacific because it’s a community where everyone is looking out for one another. Not just the Pacific community but the Forest Grove community as well,” Currie said. “Pacific is distant from Portland but also close to local farmers so I saw a lot of opportunities in that sense. I’ve worked with many farmers in the area before and wanted to work with them again.”

Currie stresses success in his day-to-day tasks.

“I don’t only want to be successful with my staff but with the students and the rest of the community,” said Currie. “I need to make sure we are training our staff appropriately, make sure that we are buying the right foods from the right people, buying certain crops from farmers when they’re in season, making sure our facilities are clean and providing good customer service.”

Since most of the UC was still under construction, Currie recognized that the food service hasn’t produced to their true ability.

“We need to improve”, Currie said. “We had a tough first month with school opening and we haven’t been doing the best we can do. We need to develop our customer service and provide a better variety of foods for people with restricted or special diets.”

Some of the ways Currie strives to change food service is by better training staff members and bringing in new people who will generate fresh ideas to provide better quality food.

One change will be a beverage machine added to The Grove said Currie. This machine will provide juices and expand the non-carbonated beverage options.

Currie said the remodeling of the top floor in the University Center has opened up opportunities for him and his staff to build a great team and solid program for the future.

“I believe the new construction will improve business once it is completed”, said Currie. “Up until now the construction has been a real hassle for us because we were unable to access our primary refrigerators and freezers. The new construction will help create a new and improved program than Pacific had in the past.”

Sponsored

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *